Close Call
by yeong-wonhan gang
Summary: Two runners living on the edge explore each others past and why they choose to do what they do. Rated teen for language.


All credit for the character of Angel goes to Sola the Sunreaver

All credit for Mirrors Edge goes to EA Games

Shayne and Hope are my characters and while I am fine with them being used in other stories please notify me first and make sure ! approve of their usage

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><p>Close Call<p>

Hope walked down the street and shivered. She was glad she had thought to pull on the gray hoodie she wore. In addition to keeping the cold off it covered the tattoo on her arm that marked her as a runner. She hurried her steps, hoping to get to Angels place as fast as possible. She looked forward to owning Angel's ass in a video-game battle. As she walked a cop car appeared at the other end of the street. She swore and pulled the hood of her jacket up, pulling it low over her face. She saw an alley up ahead, marking it as a potential escape route.

The car came toward her. Suddenly one of the windows rolled down and a blue with a Megaphone stuck his head out. "You there! Freeze and put you hands in the air!" Hope swore and bolted for the alley. As she was about to round the corner a blue stepped out. She turned on her heel and ran the other way, a cop stepped in front of her. She punched him in the stomach and then kneed him in the face. Continuing on her way three blues stepped in front of her and held their guns up "freeze or we will shoot!" one yelled. "S***!" Hope yelled and turned to be confronted by the gleaming barrel of a glock. She froze and stuck her hands in the air. "Verify she's a runner." Said the blue who seemed to be in charge. A cop stepped forward, and holstering his gun grabbed her right arm and pushed up the sleeve, revealing the symbol tattooed on it. "She's a runner!" he called to the other blue. "Great," he replied "Get some handcuffs her and we'll take her to where she belongs. Jail" the blue handcuffed her hands behind her back and walked her to the car. Hope's mind raced, she couldn't go to jail! About halfway to the car she took a deep breath, then she jumped over the handcuffs so that her hands were in front of her. Spinning, she looped her still cuffed hands around the cops neck and head-butted him. As he fell to the ground she pulled his gun out of his holster and when his body fell all the way to the ground she opened fire on the other blues. She wounded two and had taken aim on a third when she heard a noise behind her and spun. A blue was coming toward her with his gun raised. Running away from him she jumped forward and hit a lamppost, rebounding toward him with one leg extended. She hit him in the chest and then flew over his collapsing form. She rolled when she hit the pavement and then climbed gracefully to her feet and ran forward. She saw the alley and made a break for it, feet pounding and her breathe coming in gasps.

The cop who had blocked the entrance before was still there and raising his gun to shoot her. She made a split second decision and dropped, sliding toward him. As she did so she spread her arms out behind her. When she slid between his legs the handcuffs entangled them and pulled him down. Standing she began to run and pulling the glock from her waistband where she had stuck it turned her body partially and began to shoot at the cops. The glock ran out of ammo in seconds and she tossed it to the side. She reached the end of the alley and leaped onto the dumpster that was there. Once on the plastic top she leaped upwards again and grabbed onto the top of the roof. She pulled herself up and ran forward, leaping at the edge of the apartment complex. She glided through the air, struggling to keep from losing control, wind-milling her hands back and forth. She hit the white concrete of another roof and rolled to her feet. She then turned left and, sliding under a pipe, made for another roof.

It took about 30 minutes to get to Angels place, a trip that would normally have taken 10. The handcuffs inhibited her and forced her to go the long way round many of the larger obstacles. It also destroyed her sense of balance, which forced her to fall several times. Nothing to big but she still amassed a large amount of cuts and bruises. When she finally reached the roof of Angel's apartment she was more then a little bit tired of the handcuffs. Kicking open a door on the roof ran down the stairs inside. She came to a dead end with a lift. Pressing the down button she waited impatiently for the doors. Once they opened she stepped inside and pressed the button for floor 8. The doors slid shut and the elevator dinged its way downward. The elevator shuddered to a halt. Hope looked at the meter and saw that they were on floor ten. Somebody was getting in the elevator! She swore. If they saw the handcuffs they would know she was a runner. She jumped over the handcuffs again, now they were behind her and leaned against the wall. The doors opened and a man walked in. Unfortunately for her, he also happened to be a blue. Thankfully he hadn't seemed to recognize her as a runner. She nodded to him and willed the elevator doors to close. After a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity to her, they closed. The elevator seemed to inch downwards. Finally it reached floor 8 and the doors slid open. She kept her back to the wall and slid to the exit. Stepping outside of the elevator she smiled at the man who seemed rather bemused. She heaved a sigh of relief as the doors slid shut. She jumped over the cuffs _again _and turned to find Angels door. She knocked on it awkwardly and waited for Angel to open it. The door swung open on a rather annoyed looking Angel. Before she could say anything Hope raised her hands and rather sheepishly said "Could you do something about these?"

Angel looked from the handcuffs and back to Hope and then said "What is this, like, the 60th time you've been attacked by blue on the way here?" "Uh… No, its like the second! Anyways, their kinda a pain in the ass so could you?" Angel furrowed her brow. "Hate to say it Hope, but I can't do anything about this…Maybe Shayne can" "Ugh… Dammit! I have had enough of running with these stupid things on! There's a reason I look like a noob on her first job you know!" Angel snorted. "Well, stop complaining or I'll make sure you look like a noob for the rest of you life" "Hey! I just took out ten blues while _handcuffed_! Don't mess with me!" Angel smiled again, and promptly poked her "oohhhhh, look who's being messed with" and seeing the look on Hope face, said "Awww, does little itty bitty runner not like being poked?" she teased. "I swear!" muttered Hope. "One day I am going to break your face in." Angel smirked. "Anyways, lets go. I ran into a blue in the elevator on the way down. That was awkward! Lets get running." "Ok, lemme just grab my bag and we'll be off" Angel said, now rummaging through her closet for her bag. "Ok, I got it, lets run!" she said cheerfully.

They both walked to the elevator and punched the up button. The doors slid open and they got in. When they got to the top Angel kicked open the door that lead to the roof. They both walked out onto the roof. Angel stretched and grinned. "Ready?" asked Hope. She nodded and ran toward the edge of the roof. Hope followed and they both jumped off the edge, landing on a roof below. Hope slid under a pipe while Angel hopped over it. As they ran and jumped over rooftops it soon became apparent that the handcuffs were severely hindering Hope. Angel ran ahead of her and turned partially to stick her tongue out at Hope. She was so busy laughing that she didn't see the thin pipe stretched across the roof-top in front of her and her caught the edge of it sending her tumbling head over heels onto the roof. Hope laughed and caught up to her, helping her friend up from the ground. "Tsk Tsk! Very clumsy! What does this tell us about making fun of Hope?" Angel growled, but otherwise did not reply. Hope snickered. "Anyways, come on. We're almost to Shayne's." "Good, this cold weather will be the death of me" Angel shivered as the buildings flew by. "Angel, you know there is such a thing as a jacket right? I'm wearing one now which is the reason that I am not cold. You could have one to if you wanted!" "Yeah, but this winter is colder than most" Hope sighed "Yes, but you are wearing nothing but a ripped shirt on top! Of course you are cold!" Angel stuck her tongue out. "God! You are so impractical sometimes!" Angel sniffed. "Well maybe I am! What's it to you?" she asked. "Well, I don't want you to get sick!" Angel smiled "Ohh, that's sweet of you! Caring about your friend!" Hope smirked "No you dumb-ass! I just don't want to have to take your shifts! That's a pain in the neck!"

"Whatever, looks like we're almost there" Hope smiled craftily. "bet you I can beat you there!" She yells, racing ahead of Angel and taking a flying leap toward a seemingly abandoned apartment building. "Like hell you can!" Angel raced after her. Hope laughed and reaching the roof went to the side of the building and grabbing onto the roofs edge flipped herself over the edge of the building and through an open window. Looking out of it she stuck her tongue out and then turned and raced inside. Angel raced through the window, and found that she couldn't stop. She went carrening straight into Hope, knocking both girls to the ground. Struggling to her feet Hope shoved at Angel and inched toward the door to Shayne's hideout. She managed to shove it open before falling at the feet of a rather amused looking man, with Angel hanging off her legs. "Ohhh, my head…" Angel moaned. "I won…" panted Hope. "And I had handcuff's on!" "Shut up…" Angel said, before rolling over on her back and closing her eyes. Shayne reached a hand down to Hope. "So, now that you to are done wrestling, what was that you said about handcuffs?" "She said that she got handcuffed and I couldn't get them off, so we decided to come to you" Angel said, getting up off the floor. "Yeah, I kinda need some help getting them off." She lifted her hands up. "Wow, how do manage to get into these situations? Anyways, lets see what I can do."

He led her over to a workbench cluttered with technological junk. He rifled through the piles and pulled out a small soldering iron. Plugging it into the wall he flicked it on and placed it against the cuffs. They came right off, though they hot metal did hit Hope's wrists and she howled in pain, hopping up and down and shaking her hands. "Tch, I could have done that" Angel said. "Dammit! Shayne, that hurt! Couldn't you be a little more careful with that thing!" "Sorry! Here, I'll get you a band-aid." Angel smirked. "You two bicker like an old married couple" They both spun and said in unison "SHUT-UP!" then Hope grimaced "Ewwww! That would be like marrying my dad!" Shayne looked hurt "I'm not _that_old am I?" Angel watched the two with an amused smile. Hope turned on Angel "Hey, what are you smiling at?" "Oh, absolutely nothing Hope" Angel said, smiling even wider. "No Really, what are you smiling at?" "Hope, Hope, Hope, since I value my life I wont tell you" "Damn straight you do! Anyways you missy, need to practice your running! I beat you with my hands tied! Quite literaly!" "Yeah well maybe I've had stuff on my mind" Hope raised an eyebrow. "Like what kind of _stuff_?" "Oh, maybe that my family is actually paying blues to find me now?"

Hope raised both eyebrows and Shayne frowned. "Why didn't you tell Hope and I? This is important, it doesn't just concern you. If they're lookin for you they could find the runners." "Didn't realize it until yesterday, besides, it's a family problem, it doesn't concern my work life" Hope looked upset. Shayne said ""When you're a runner family problems like yours become work problems to. But don't sweat it, just next tell us right away so we can plant some false leads. O.K.?" Angel nodded slightly at Shayne. Hope simply shook her head angrily and stalked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Shayne and Hope could hear her feet stomp up the stairs to the roof and the distant slamming of another door. "Did I do something?" asked Angel. Shayne sighed "Family is a touchy subject with Hope. Understand that she left her family when she was 16. They didn't even look for her. She feels that you don't care about a family that she wished she had. You should go talk to her." "Uh, if I know Hope like I think I know her, she's not going to forgive me easily, I think it would be best if I left her alone for a while" Shayne shook his head "Listen Angel, Hope doesn't have many friends, she really doesn't trust many people. Go talk to her, she's waiting."

Angel nodded slightly, and dashed out of the room. Climbing out of the window she looked around. Night was falling and a cool breeze swept through the city. She noticed a silhouette against the darkening sky, and walked over to Hope. "Hope?" Angel asked, tentatively. "yeah? What is it?" "I-I'm sort of sorry. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I didn't realize that you weren't on good terms wit your family. I thought they might have died when you were young. " Angel looked up at the now dark sky. "My family didn't really love me. It was sort of their responsibility. I was gifted and treated like a princess. I had everything I ever wanted. I hated it. When I was 17 I was at the end of my rope. I was tired, bored, and life was overall not worth anything to me anymore. One day I saw a news report on several captured runners. All the report said was how bad it was to be one, to defy the law and its leaders. I thought it was brilliant. I had finally found what I was looking for. So I got ready, and one night I left. I ran as far away from home as I could get, trying to outrun my cage that had held me tight for 17 years. From there you know what happened. I tripped and knocked myself out cold, showing just how clumsy I was. You and Shayne found me, and for the first time I felt like life meant something, like I found people who cared for me like family. I finally found a home." She finished. She directed her gaze at Hope. Hope smiled sadly "Yeah, its o.k." She looked up at the darkening sky. "I came from a middle-class family, you know, life was pretty boring. I got average grades-the only thing I got an A in was p.e. But I thought my parents loved me. When I was 16 though I got fed-up with my life and how _boring_ it was. And how everybody just let themselves be controlled by the government. I ran away from home, then. Shayne found me running from some blues… saved me. Everyday for months after I went to my old home. They didn't seem to care. They just went about their lives like nothing had happened. I never saw them shed a tear." "It seems like our former lives were not so different" Angel said, smiling slightly.

"Yeah." chuckled Hope. Angel's stomach growled. "God I'm hungry, I think I'll go mooch something off of Shayne"

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><p>Thank you for reading! Reviews are welcome but please note that all negative reviews will be removed. I love constructive critiques but please no bashing.<p> 


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